9.02.10
This study inquires into why states implement differently the European Court of Human Rights (hereby ECtHR or ‘Court’) judgments that pertain to core civil liberties (Articles 8-11/14 ECHR), as well as rights claims raised by marginalized individuals and minorities. By drawing upon the resolutions issued by the Committee of Ministers (CoM), the body responsible for monitoring execution of ECtHR judgments, this study seeks a) to identify patterns of variation across nine countries in the degree to which national authorities promptly and expediently implement these, and b) to explain the factors that account for such variation.
On the basis of a statistical analysis of case law data across nine countries, the findings show that patterns of variation run across national lines rather than across different areas of rights and policy. They show a strong correlation between effectiveness of government institutions and how expeditiously states implement ECtHR judgments. In line with the management approach in the study of compliance with international law, institutional factors such as effectiveness of public service, its independence from political pressure, and rule of law as reflected in independent and efficient justice systems, emerge as decisive in the implementation of ECHR decisions. On the contrary, factors such as economic development do not tell us anything significantly about a country capacity to enforce ECHR decisions.
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